HENRIETTA QUARTEY

ACTIVITY 3 - PROVIDE SUPPORT TO A RESIDENT/SERVICE USER AT A

TIME OF CRISIS LOSS OR DISTRESS
Distress is defined as anxiety or mental suffering cause by severe strain resulting from
exhaustion or an accident. This incident describes a resident I would called Diana (not
real name because of confidentiality) who was distress whilst I was on duty in Amina
house.
Diana was a resident at my project, Amina House, for nearly 4 years and I was her key
worker since she came to Amina House. Diana apart from depression suffered amongst
other related drug problems like; drug induced psychosis and a diabetic. Additionally,
one of Diana’s main problems with her mental health is sexually abused she suffered by
various people including her own father. Again, another area she suffered was
abandonment by her mother during her infancy due to her mother inability to cope
whilst she was receiving breast cancer treatment. Diana was diagnosed as someone with
multiple mental health problems. As a result, Diana is on heavy doses of medication, and
whenever she is depressed, harms herself by cutting her wrists and overdose herself with
her prescribed medication. According to Diana, this helped her to get some relieve of her
psychological and emotional pains for a while.

Diana has one daughter and three grandchildren who are all girls and they lived in
London. Diana was very much in contact and always visited whenever she is stable in
mood. One day she used crack cocaine and overdosed herself to help her to deal with
stress. After this, she became calm, and the guilt feelings kicked in which made her very
depressed and self destructive. On this particular day when this crisis occurred, I went up
to her to have a chart, I knocked at her door with my colleague on duty to check on her
because we had not seen her in morning. After knocking for some time, there was no
answer at first but later, she shouted “what do you want – go away I am not speaking to
you today”. I persuaded Diana to open the door which she did after initial resistant.
After Diana opened the door, she cried uncontrollably and said that she no longer wanted
to live as the whole world was against her. In order to console her, I took her to the

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nearby park, and she spoke at length about what she was going through. I reassured her
that she has everything to live for, mentioning her beautiful daughter and the three lovely
grandchildren who needed her support. I went on to tell her how well she has progressed
regarding to her mental health since she first moved in to Amina House. The crying
became intensified I in consultation of my colleague on duty decided to report to our line
manager, who intend advised us to call her Community Psychiatry Nurse (C. P.N.). In
less than an hour, the C.P.N. arrived in Amina house. He had a chart with Diana and also
inspected the dosage box to see if she had been taken her medication. To his amazement,
he found out that Diana has not been taken her medication for the past weeks. The
following day, the C.P.N. organized an emergency meeting which consisted of Psychiatry
Consultant, C.P.N. Social Worker, I and two members of staff from Amina house. During
the meeting it came to light that Diana has not been taken her medication regularly as
required and that had contributed to relapse of her mental health. The meeting came up
that Diana should be supervised by staff from Amina house in taking her medication. As
the result her dosage box was taken from her and placed it in the office and she agreed to
take morning and evening in the presence of staff. Furthermore she was referred to see
her G.P. for her physical health which I made an appointment for and also accompanied
her to the G.P. In addition, I made referral for her to Mainstream, a counseling agency
which deals with people who self harm. As a key worker I prompted her go to this
agency every week which I did until she became well and moved on to the community.

I reassured her that there are more life ahead of her and could live a productive life if she
could access the support from her support plan and outside agencies, like MarySeacole
House which is a drop in centre that offers support to vulnerable people and drug relapse
prevention. Adullam policies of protection of vulnerable Adult from Abuse, Boundary,
and complain procedures were adhere to strictly. Also her risk assessment was reviewed
Based on this, the following support plan was agreed on and is now in place.

1. Referral to MarySeacole House to gain confidence and to network with

other service users.
2. Recommended Counsel

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 3. Drug relapse prevention centre attendance

Diana is known to most hostels and drop in centers and people had given up on her but I
do feel that since she has been with Amina House, she has made a lot progress. This was
due to pragmatic plan I took her through during the period she stayed with us in Amina
house
Again, Diana has managed her addiction well, I always encouraged her to take her
medication regularly and access other services being provided in the locality. I have
gained a closer working relationship with her.
In conclusion, I expect future Project workers to take more responsibilities, even though I
handled the situation to the best of my ability, I still feel I could have handled it better
and more professionally if I were to be trained in counseling and management self harm.
I would like to know more about illicit drugs in deeper detail and would like to attend
drug and alcohol awareness course if possible to enable me get a broader understanding
of users thoughts, emotions and feelings in these situations. As result of pragmatic
policies and support plans I put in place she is now a family woman living happily with
husband and children
.